A regional daily was safe to include a photograph of a bridge from which a man jumped to his death in its inquest report, the press watchdog has ruled.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation says Newcastle daily the Chronicle did not breach the Editors’ Code of Practice after featuring a picture of the Tyne Bridge in a story about the death of Alex Byers, whose body was found in the River Tyne.

Mr Byers’s sister Lucy Glister-Byers complained to IPSO over the article, claiming the details reported were excessive and that the inclusion of his picture alongside a picture of the bridge where he died, was distasteful.

She added that The Chronicle had failed to treat her with sensitivity while speaking to her over the telephone, and because it did not respond to her initial email.

The Tyne Bridge

The Chronicle apologised that the article had upset the complainant and her family, but said it took care both to avoid excessive detail regarding the method of suicide and to handle publication sensitively.

It said that including a photograph of the bridge, which it noted is a well-known landmark, did not amount to a failure to handle publication of the story sensitively, and that it is standard procedure to use such pictures for illustrative purposes.

The Chronicle apologised for failing to respond to her initial email complaint and said that this had been overlooked in error, but denied failing to treat the complainant sensitively during telephone conversations.

It had removed the photograph of the bridge from its online article and also offered to write a private letter of apology to the complainant.

IPSO found the article reported a short, factual description of the circumstances of the complainant’s brother’s death, based on CCTV footage shown at the inquest, and that The Chronicle was entitled to report the evidence heard at the inquest, provided it did so sensitively.

The image complained of did not depict the method of suicide, but illustrated the location of the incident, and IPSO did not consider that publication of the picture represented excessive detail of the method used.

The complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.